Kung Fu Panda

Put aside the tacky title and flashbacks of Jack Black cavorting at the Cannes Film Festival in a panda suit: this is DreamWorks' best animation in years. Po (Jack Black) is a portly panda who dreams of becoming a kung fu warrior, but he is stuck in his father's noodle kitchen feeding a strangely bird-heavy population. When Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), a Yoda-like turtle sage, announces the impending appointment of the legendary dragon warrior, Po rips off his apron and heads for the Shaolin temple to seize his chance at greatness. In true underdog style and to the horror of a group of elite martial arts warriors, he is picked, and is soon up against the evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane). Not exactly the stuff of Greek tragedy, but such is Kung Fu Panda's charm that it doesn't matter. Black is brilliantly understated as the hapless Po, while Dustin Hoffman has the right balance of gravitas and irony to pull off Shifu, the Mr Miyagi-esque martial arts master. But its wide-smiling, furball sense of humour is where this film really scores, having moved away from the cynicism and relentless pop culture references that characterised the Shrek franchise. Of course, it comes with a message, but against a backdrop of electric fight scenes and wistfully drawn landscapes, we hardly notice it. We may be back in kiddie territory, but there is still plenty of panda punch here.

This is DreamWorks' best animation in years! We may be back in kiddie territory, but there is still plenty of panda punch here.